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    Wisconsin Lawyer
    July 01, 1999

    Wisconsin Lawyer July 1999: Inside the Bar

    Inside the Bar

    Growth in Bar Services, Membership Precede Move to New Facility

    By Stephen L. Smay

    The Bar Center will close its office on Thursday and Friday, Aug. 5-6, for the first time in more than 17 years. That is when the staff will move from the current downtown building to the new building at the American Center near the intersection of Highway 151 and Interstates 90/94 on Madison's northeast side. We will plan to be back in business by the next week.

    The last time the Bar Center was closed on a business day was in late spring 1982 when we were undergoing asbestos removal in connection with renovating and expanding the current Wilson Street building. That building has served the Bar for more than 40 years. Indeed, it almost reached the stated objective of the 1981 leadership of providing a home that would last until the year 2000.

    New Bar Center As we approach 2000, the State Bar looks much different than it did in 1981. In 1981 we produced fewer than half the number of seminars we present today. In 1981 we had no CLE book program; today we offer more than 50 titles in many fields of law. In 1981 the Lawyer Referral and Information Service was in its infancy; last year LRIS received more than 50,000 calls from Wisconsin citizens, referring on average one in six callers to LRIS panel attorneys. In 1981 there was no Newsletter, and we had only recently started to publish the Wisconsin Lawyer (then called the Wisconsin Bar Bulletin) monthly. No one had heard of the Internet, and there was no WisBar Internet site, e-commerce, or electronic publishing, which today occupy several staff members. We had a modest government relations program and no organized assistance for local bar associations. There were far fewer sections, committees, and divisions. We had 12,496 members in 1981 compared to 19,875 members today. Interestingly, more than half of our current members had not yet been admitted to practice law in 1981.

    The planners of 1981 foresaw some of these changes and knew there would be unforeseen challenges and opportunities. Speaking only for myself, however, the magnitude of change has been greater than I would have predicted 18 years ago.

    Producing more services and products for more members required much staff and volunteer involvement. That involvement required space in the Bar Center. Conference rooms were converted to office space, and the building gradually became almost exclusively an office facility with little opportunity for member meetings. Beginning in 1990 some staff operations such as printing and mailing were moved out of the Wilson Street building.

    Many people have shared their time, talent, and money to make the new building a reality. Over the past year Nathan Fishbach from Milwaukee has distinguished himself as chairperson of the capital campaign to which there have been 615 pledges, representing 8,208 members and friends who have contributed more than $1.2 million. Thanks to Nathan and to everyone who contributed. Almost the entire construction project has been completed under Susan Steingass's watch as president. She provided leadership here as well as in many other areas of Bar activity.

    Moving vans will relocate Bar operations to the new Bar Center on Aug. 5. Staff hope to be back in business on the following Monday, Aug. 9.

    In my eyes, the new building will be associated with two former Bar presidents who provided the vision and implementation expertise. The original vision came from Steve Sorenson, who persisted over several years in his frequently stated belief that we needed a new home if we were to remain an active, service-oriented organization. He prodded us to develop the will necessary for such an important project.

    The building site was purchased and ground was broken during his year as president. Former President Gerald O'Brien chaired the Facilities Committee. Jerry worked tirelessly to choose a building site, select a design-build team, and oversee the construction process to a successful conclusion. The total project cost was within the budget and very close to the initial projections of nearly five years ago.

    Please visit us in your new Bar Center. All of our operations will be back under one roof with adequate space for staff and room for some growth. There will be a room for CLE seminars and other large meetings of up to 180 people. In addition, we will have four conference rooms and a technology center, about which I will have more to say in a later column. Perhaps most importantly, there will be more than 200 free parking spaces and easy access to the Interstate system.

    We will be open for business at 5302 Eastpark Boulevard on Monday, Aug. 9. Although our address will change, our phone numbers will remain the same. The grand opening ceremony will be Friday afternoon, Sept. 17.

    We look forward to seeing you!


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